How will future generations live in a world transformed by climate change and overconsumption? Though science contributes some answers, these aren't just scientific questions; they're human ones. What are we afraid of? What don't we like about ourselves – and what would we change? Once in a while a writer, or an artist, or a filmmaker, catches a glimpse of what might happen to secure our future. Simon Ings

It's all very well leaving for the stars – but what sort of state will we leave our home world? Douglas Trumbull's 1972 film Silent Running darkened O'Neill's vision, sending poorly tended scraps of the natural world into space in a last-ditch attempt at preservation.

More recently, in 2008, the Pixar animated romantic comedy Wall-E stood Silent Running on its head: it sent us all into space, leaving robots to put the planet back in order. (Needless to say, leaving the clear-up to machines causes them to improve, while we devolve into gigantic pampered babies.)

Wall-E's end titles are a cartoon that reruns the human story from start to finish – only this time we're accompanied by wise machines. Technology is the answer to our problems – but only when it's smart enough to understand us.